Kron series (Kron 6 end of mission) - temporary halt of program

[Zaddy23]

I did have a disaster while doing the burns, when I collided with one jettisoned tank which was kilometres away. It was a spectacular sight indeed. Thank Squad for F9...

Oh dear! Too bad you didn't get any screenshots!

[lajoswinkler]

The Ministry decided to do a cover-up.

- - - Updated - - -

The centrifuge is online.

Of course, it doesn't spin this fast, it's just an animation.

[lajoswinkler]

Next part of the mission was precision landing on Slate to retrieve scientific instruments from the Kron 3D probe.

The crew was enthusiastic, although they just might be happy because of colorful lamps and stuff.

Lander was undocked from the ship and shield...

... and the ship redocked to the shield.

Several burns were executed.

As usual, Jebediah had to leave his piloting seat and show off.

Landing was very precise given the 0.85 G of surface gravity and the fact it was manual.

611.5 m away from the target with only 16 m/s left in the descent stage and no destroyed equipment. One lander leg had to be raised to avoid tilting.

The first Kerbal to set foot in Slatean soil was scientist Bob. Eeloo with Sarnus in the background.

Tekto in the sky.

After raising the flag, Bob went to the probe lander to check its status and retrieve the instruments. The ground is made of gravel, which is consistent with other data saying the region was once flooded.

[lajoswinkler]

After a nice walk, Bob located Kron 3D lander probe which was launched several years ago.

He found the probe to be in a decrepit state. RTG power is at 0%, batteries are completely dead and there isn't almost any fuel.

But even in this state, the probe had some valuable items like its scientific instruments which we not taken aboard Kron 3 because Pepe Kerman forgot about it. Here's Bob holding a DAN unit (Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons).

It took several journeys to the probe and back to retrieve all of the instruments. After returning with a SSL (Surface Scan Laser), Bob found the lander has fallen over to its side - an event which, although never did any damage, proved to cause a great deal of problems later with liftoff.

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

- "Noooo, noooo... I clean. No problem."

Edited March 15, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[Snarfster]

Very nice storyline. Are you playing in 0.90? I noticed the deep freeze was rated for 0.25.

[lajoswinkler]

Yup, this is 0.90. Deep Freeze works fine. Not a single problem so far. It should be rated for 0.90.

[DMSP]

This is actually really cool.

Now you inspired me with the centrifuge...

[lajoswinkler]

Centrifuges are the best.

Update.

After separating from the descent stage and excruciating maneuvering to lift the ascent one by rolling around the hill and spending precious monopropellant, Kerbals have finally ascended from Slate.

Unfortunately, a serious problem occured. During their surface EVA and fooling around and trying to set the lander upright, Kron 3 moved away from their latitude. Waiting a whole Slatean day was out of the question, so returning to the ship became a matter of life and death (TAC) and a potential disaster. Not even Jebediah was happy about it.

While coasting to the apoapsis, Bill installed one fresh RTG unit to fill the depleted onboard battery.

Last braking required almost 60 m/s and the bipropellant tank was depleted, so RCS had to do it.

With only few units of monopropellant left, the lander managed to squeeze in between the ship and heatshield.

Jebediah using onboard port camera to dock.

Engineer Bill strutting the ship back.

Resource and waste management began.

[DMSP]

You are one lucky pilot.

Cheers to good luck, and hope that my CPU gets some luck now!

[lajoswinkler]

Great deal of ship's mass goes on the station that will be left in an orbit around Tekto, therefore some of the power generating equipment must be transfered. Job for engineer Bill.

Setting the half decayed RTG units to the cryonics module.

Next part of the plan is to do a direct transfer between Slate and Tekto. That's why Kerbals are still sporting the shield on the ship.

It should take some 727 m/s to accelerate enough to catch the atmosphere of Tekto.

Meanwhile on Kerbin, Ministry of No Better Things To Do has decided to launch a set of tiny landers for the newly discovered satellites of Urlum: Polta, Priax and Wal.

It's a hastily built probe and it will be amazing if it survives. It won't reach Urlum before Kron 3 crew comes back home.

[DMSP]

I have 6 probes going Interstellar.

Nice job getting this far, don't give up, and don't fail!

Also, good luck with the probe!

-DMSP

[Sampa]

that massive rocket, did you base that off of the Delta IV rocket that NASA used to test Orion?

[lajoswinkler]

I have 6 probes going Interstellar.

Nice job getting this far, don't give up, and don't fail!

Also, good luck with the probe!

-DMSP

Thanks. I won't, I just take it slow.

that massive rocket, did you base that off of the Delta IV rocket that NASA used to test Orion?

It was very efficient to launch it this way, and I like orange color so...

[lajoswinkler]

Due to concernes over the total delta v of the ship, Kerbals have decided to ditch the centrifuge arms. After all, you can't aerobrake with them sticking outside, and packing them into axis and later unpacking again is so tedious.

Now Slate has a small centrifugal space station with room for 8 Kerbals.

During an escape burn from Slate's orbit, two lateral nuclear thermal engines were jettisoned, too.

Soon, a positive lock on Tekto was established.

I did 2 aerobrakings at 55 km and that brought down the apoapsis to less than 420 km. Maximum heatshield temperature was less than 140 °C and I'm pretty sure it wasn't even needed despite DRE on hard mode.

As you can see, the ship has lost quite a bit of weight.

Bob was very satisfied with the first results from Tekto's orbit.

There are some concernes regarding the nutrients aboard the ship. It might be necessary to place some of the Kerbals back into the cryonic chamber.

Edited March 20, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[lajoswinkler]

So this is the plan. Braking at apoapsis, releasing the lander, turning around and accelerating again.

"This will work!" said Bill.

Bob, on the other hand, wasn't really convinced the instruments were gonna hold on the reentry.

About to hit the atmosphere.

"If we land in the sea, we're rekt, m8" - Bob.

Parachutes deploying while the shield slowly glides away.

Less than 10 km above ground, parachutes open completely.

"We won't die yet!" - Bill

Jettisoning the lower docking port.

The overwhelming green color calms down Bob.

Touchdown happened at 3 m/s without damage, on a slope inclined 2.4°.

Kerbals have landed on Tekto after a long descent. Landing spot is just few kilometres away from the sea, which is perfect for investigation on foot.

[lajoswinkler]

Scientist Bob Kerman exits the capsule first.

His first scientific report is that everything is green.

Bill is mesmerized by the apparently colorful sand.

Every mission needs to have a Kerbal pyramid in it.

So while Jebediah and Bill are wasting their precious oxygen, Bob went for a walk to the shore.

Some mid-air kung-fu is unavoidable on low gravity worlds.

Finally, 3.4 km away from the landing site, Bob Kerman reaches the ocean. Sadly, no samples could be picked up.

A speedy return was needed because of depleting oxygen.

In summary, Tekto is a dead world with unbreathable atmosphere at some 1 °C and somewhat larger pressure than on Kerbin's shores. And it's mostly green.

[lajoswinkler]

Bill setting the neutron counter experiment before lander ingress.

Final checkups before liftoff.

Liftoff from Tekto is one of the most difficult things with OPM and FAR being installed.

Rendezvous and docking with Kron 3.

Upon docking, it was realized that the amount of poop on the ship is so high that 4 Kerbals will need to be returned to the cryonic chamber. That will give Jebediah, Bob and Bill the opportunity to finish the mission before going to cryo-sleep, too.

Next move is assembling the station around Tekto, leaving it and then probably rendezvous with those two resource probes being launched into Sarnusian orbit few years ago.

[lajoswinkler]

Kron 3 has left its central centrifugal module in the form of a station above Tekto. The station has TAC devices for life support and water, one instrument and an RTG unit. There are two docks on it and a tiny amount of monopropellant. Large radiator array has been left for the ship.

After restrutting the ship once again, Bill went to the back of the ship where the nuclear reactor is and peeked over the shield. Bill now has a brand new tan.

Escaping Tekto.

Back in Sarnus' orbit, the ship did a rendezvous with two older probes that have arrived there months before Kron 3. Food was running low.

There is plenty of fuel and food on those probes so future rendezvous could be made before leaving home.

Next target is Ovok, the ball of fluff.

As Kron 3 lacks the main shield, aerobraking in Sarnus' atmosphere is out of the question, so I've chosen the gravity assisted braking using Slate.

Additional orbit correction was done in periapsis of Slate.

The ship will soon enter Ovok's sphere of influence.

Food is no longer an issue, but waste still is. An urgent one.

[meve12]

Would the biologists particularly care if you tossed the waste into the gas giant?

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

Ha, yeah! You could watch it and do SCIENCE!!

[Randazzo]

Honestly, you could just dump the poop into the rings. Not as if you're gonna be flying through there. =D

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

But if you throw it into the giant, you could (pretend) SCIENCE! and there would be light show for the crew, to lighten the strain of being stuck in such a small space for several years!

[lajoswinkler]

As a TAC-n00b I had no idea all of the waste products actually automatically get dumped. The container are there only to provide a buffer for recyclers, if you have any.

Freezing four Kerbals might therefore be seen as a stupid idea, but there was barely any food left before resupplying so all in all, it came out useful.

Kron 3 has successfuly entered an orbit around Ovok.

Few hours after, landing procedure started.

It is very easy to overshoot your target on Ovok, due to its weak gravity field.

Almost 30 minutes after undocking, the team was on the surface in front of the Kron 3B probe.

Bob did the first steps. Slate in the sky.

One of his first mistakes was to jump. 43.4 metres into the air.

That didn't stop him from fooling around in the fluffy terrain.

Jebediah placed the flag.

Kron 3B probe has one very important device to pick up. Here's Bob removing the RPWS antenna.

Stumbling back.

There was even a boulder some 2.4 km away. Easily accessible using a jetpack.

Before leaving this spot, one photo for the press.

Because Kron's lander is a vessel powerful enough, two more hops were made. One to north, one to south pole.

You'll notice the undulations in the terrain. Seismometer reported sine waves.

I don't recommend fooling around on the south one. Terrain has breaking points where Kraken lurks.

Hopping to the north pole. Jeb doing his thing.

At this time of Ovok's month, north pole offers a very nice sight. No glitches reported. Both poles are very dark with high contrasts. Landing is not easy without proximity detectors.

Lander has later returned. Curious enough, it takes some 90 m/s to turn inclination for 90°.

[Yukon0009]

So, 1 m/s for 1 degree. Huh.

I've been inspire to do a Sarnus mission now. As in, the landers are arriving there.

[lajoswinkler]

Yes, do a mission. The more the merrier.

Hale is difficult to catch. Its sphere of influence is so incredibly tiny that even when falling from Ovok's orbit you have like less than two minutes to brake, and that's not easy with high I_sp and low TWR ships.

Here's Hale among the rings. Eeloo is on the left.

In fact, the ship was on a collision course and braked half way to the ground, and then established a circular orbit. Few m/s is all it takes to enter orbit.

The view truly is spectacular.

In the distance, a more familiar world is visible.

That little dot below the K is Kerbin.